Aleksandr Feodorovich Kerensky

Kerensky, Aleksandr Feodorovich (kərĕnˈskē, Rus. əlyĭksänˈdər fyôˈdərəvĭch kâˈrĭnskē) [key], 1881–1970, Russian revolutionary. A lawyer, he was elected to the fourth duma in 1912 as a representative of the moderate Labor party. He joined the Socialist Revolutionary party after the February Revolution of 1917 that overthrew the czarist government and became minister of justice, then war minister in the provisional government of Prince Lvov. He succeeded (July, 1917) Lvov as premier. Kerensky's insistence on remaining in World War I, his failure to deal with urgent economic problems (particularly land distribution), and his moderation enabled the Bolsheviks to overthrow his government later in 1917. Kerensky fled to Paris, where he continued as an active propagandist against the Soviet regime. In 1940 he fled to the United States; later he continued to travel and lecture. He wrote The Prelude to Bolshevism (1919).